Sounds a lot like my old Adventures of Rick Rocket game. It was a space shooter and had mission-based levels too. The only difference was instead of ship upgrades purchased at a shop, you found them via power-ups that certain enemies dropped when you blew them up.

Unfortunately, it isn't currently available for sale since I closed my business a few years back. But I could look through my old backups and find an install for it. Would a Windows version be sufficient? I could upload it to my wife's craft site and send you a link. Is your email address still info at your domain?

I think you, and others, will likely be surprised by what kind of a game Zodiac is (or isn't). It is not a RPG, in the traditional sense. It has some RPG elements, but I certainly would not call it that.

Think of a classic arcade space shooter. Got it? Now instead of wave-after-wave of enemies, drop in missions / tasks that need to be complete before a zone is cleared. Sure, just like in an RPG, enemies will try to stop you, but the goal of the game is not a high-score for blasting as many waves of enemies as possible- it's about following the storyline by completing missions (call missions "quests" if you wish). Upgrade stations will allow you to perform ship upgrades, much like outfitting your character at a blacksmith in Eschalon. Exploration will be rewarded.

In a way, maybe Zodiac is a bit like "Diablo in space". A lightweight action RPG, but with a spaceship instead of a character.

I'm just not ready to show anything yet. I want the "unveiling" to be really impactful, and I just don't have enough content for that yet.

Last week was a lot of maintenance code work- consolidating functions, making some systems more drop-in-and-go friendly such as unifying the weapons controller, so that the game's entities (including the player) can properly share weapons.

This week it looks like I am doing some sound design and music sampling, since much of the sound and music is still temporary and I want to start establishing an overall audio mood.

Although there is some real gameplay in place, I am still missing two major game elements which I want to be part of the unveil. Hopeful these will materialize in the next few weeks.

Overall, I think ZATMOS looks really nice. Even now, it definitely causes people to stop and watch for a bit when they walk by.

WHEN DO WE GET TO SEE SCREENSHOTS?
Not for a while. The game hasn't been formally announced yet. When I announce the game, it will be through a Steam Greenlight submission with a trailer video, and we'll work hard to spread the news everywhere at that point. Until then, the ZATMOS website will remain the teaser it is now.

Isn't Steam Greenlight going away ?

Will you have time to upload it and get it greenlight before it dies.
Or did you mean Steam Direct , the new one ?

And a personal thank you from me for creating Eschalon. It's incredible and I love it
Also a source of inspiration as many successful indies are because I'm developing my own game (metroidvania). Been re-playing Fallout 1/2 and playing Eschalon the past few weeks and they have made me really interested in trying my hand at a small scale RPG after this project

Eschalon was BlitzMax, right? And now you are probably moving to Unity for this and the Sci-Fi RPG?

Last edited by TenToes on May 26th, 2017, 12:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.